An End Has A Start
by MM8712
Summary: While working a case, Nick discovers that he has child. Can he make up for lost time with her? What about her mother?
1. Mother and Daughter

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters besides Lila and Anne. The restaurant mentioned is a real restaurant but I don't own that either.**

**A/N:** I have been thinking about this story line for a while now, and I really wanted to start it. I hope you like it and please review because they make me happy, and I always love to be happy!

* * *

Nick always hated cases like these. As soon as Grissom had handed out assignments that night, Nick knew that he wasn't going to get any rest. Not because he would be working long hours, but because he knew that he was going to be plagued by nightmares.

Nick could see the yellow crime scene tape around the playground. The air was chilly and he could see his breath in the air as he tried to control his breathing. Sophia stood outside the scene waiting for the CSIs. It was a hard night for all of them.

Nick, Catherine, and Greg approached the young, blonde detective and noticed the frown that accompanied her forlorn blue eyes. Greg nodded his head in greeting; a true sign at how tragic the night was, not even Greg could act humorously.

"A mother found her lying under the bridge of the playground when she went to collect her own kids this afternoon. Thought she was sleeping at first, but when she tried to wake the young girl up, she noticed that she wasn't coming to. Called the police. The parents are nowhere to be found, and there's no form of identification what so ever on her. She looks to be around five or six years old, however." Sophia relayed all the information they had gathered from the past hour.

"Where is the woman who found her?" Catherine asked. She hated to see cases like these. It didn't matter that Lindsay was a teenager now, all children reminded her of Lindsay.

"Sitting down on a park bench with two uniforms keeping watch on her. I haven't interviewed her in depth yet if one of you want to come with me for it?" Sophia posed the question knowing that one of them would want to go.

Catherine thought for a second about sending Nick over to interview the woman, she knew he would be upset about the situation more than any of them. She knew about his childhood and about how he was molested by a last minute babysitter when he was nine years old. He had confided in her so many years ago about it while they were working a homicide case involving a teenager who appeared to have been taken advantage of by his therapist. Even though the evidence had proved that it didn't in fact happen that way, he still let it hit close to his heart and had gotten out of hand on the case. It was only after threatening to take him off of the case that he had finally opened up about the traumatic life experience. Ever since then, Catherine had worked hard to protect Nick from cases involving the death of a young child. Tonight, however, it seemed inevitable that he would have to face his demons in some form or another.

"Greg, you go with Sophia. Nick you take the perimeter, I'll check out the body." Catherine saw the look of disappointment cross Nick's face and the relief cross Greg's face. She wasn't being cold or insensitive about Nick's past, she just knew that he would eventually see the body or deal with it, and the sooner the better.

Greg walked away behind Sophia a second later and Catherine and Nick proceeded under the crime scene tape. The rubber material the city put in all the public parks bounced under their boots as they walked closer to the little girl. Both investigators caught sight of the little girl, laying in a fetal position under the playground bridge. They both stopped temporarily to stare down at the young life lost. Neither breathed for what seemed like eternity while they stared at the girl. She had long blonde hair and even though her eyes were closed, they knew she had big eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt with a big read heart in the center. Her little denim jeans were wrinkled and slightly dirty. Her tiny face was completely pale and her mouth was slightly agape. There was dried snot beneath her nose and her hands were tucked underneath her head. If they hadn't known her to be dead, they would have thought she was indeed sleeping.

Nick's mouth had gone dry and his heart rate had increased dramatically. He could never understand why anybody would want to hurt or worse yet, kill something so innocent. He knew he needed to move away and start gathering evidence, but he felt his feet firmly planted to the ground.

It wasn't until David announced himself, that both CSIs awoke from their personal nightmares. Nick said a quick hello, and then set off to distract himself the only way he knew how to; working.

* * *

Nick, Catherine, and Greg sat around the layout room table. The two men had just arrived back from the scene and Catherine had just returned from autopsy. The air was thick with the somber moods of all three of them. Finally Catherine felt she needed to speak first.

"We got an ID on our vic. School safe kit turned up the results. Her name is Lila Elliot. She's six years old and lives in Green Valley. She lives with her mom, Anne Elliot. No word on the dad, and her birth certificate doesn't list a name."

"COD?" Greg asked.

"Al found large quantities of GHB in her system. Enough to make her OD." Catherine muttered.

"Any signs of sexual assault?" Nick asked through clenched teeth. GHB was a known and popular date rape drug and criminals usually used what they were familiar with.

"Not according to the Doc and the SART kit came back clean. " Catherine replied, glad that there was at least some silver lining in this terrible storm.

"So where was Lila's mom? Did we get a hold of her?" Nick asked.

"Nope. Sophia spoke with Anne's work. She's a waitress over at that restaurant at the Paris, Mon Ami Gabi. According to the restaurant manager, Anne was scheduled to work lunch and part of dinner tonight, but never showed up. Sophia was on her way over to the her house when I spoke to her."

"Good, I'd like to know why the hell this woman wasn't watching her child at the park or better yet, why she left without her child." Greg said. Even though he was young and didn't have any kids of his own (or any nieces or nephews, for that matter), he still felt his heart splitting with this case.

Catherine heard the familiar ring coming from her cell phone. She reached forward to the table in front of her and peered at the caller ID. It was Sophia. She quickly flipped her phone open and listened on the other end and Sophia relayed to her what they had found at the mother's house. Catherine sighed and closed the phone.

"Get your kits. We've got another 420 to investigate." Catherine told the two men. This case just kept getting worse and worse.

* * *

The three of them were inside the mother's house. The mother, Anne, was on the floor of her bedroom, covered in stab wounds from neck to pelvis. Blood was everywhere. The house appeared to have been broken into and the bedroom was a mess.

"She's got defensive wounds on her arms." David told Catherine as he examined the body.

"She fought back." Catherine murmured as she picked up a brown hair off the bed.

Nick noticed what she had just found and walked over to examine it with her.

"Both vics had blonde hair, right?" Catherine asked, affirming her suspicions.

"Yeah, so what's a brown hair doing on her bed?" Nick asked.

"Well there's a skin tag on it, so maybe we'll get lucky."

"You think maybe her boyfriend did this?" Nick questioned as he peered around the room.

"Why don't you run it Nick." Catherine said as she placed the evidence into her kit.

"Okay. Guy breaks in and kills the mom first. Uses the kitchen knife to do it. After that he walks down the hall and grabs Lila. He gets her out of the house so she won't notice that he's killed her mom. He takes her to the park at night, figuring nobody would be there when it was dark. Lila escapes and hides under the bridge at the playground, but the drugs he's administered are too much for her poor little soul and she slowly dies."

Catherine thought about it for a minute, it was a good theory, but there were still so many unanswered questions. Why did he choose this family? Did he know them? Where was the murder weapon?

Sophia walked into the bedroom with a hopeful look on her face. Both CSIs looked up at her as she walked in.

"I was talking to the neighbors and we may have a suspect. Neighbor saw Anne's sister driving off this morning around seven AM. Were bringing her into PD right now for questioning."

"Well that time fits with this liver temp. I'm getting right now." David spoke from the floor.

"So much for my theory." Nick grumbled. He hated not knowing what happened.

"I'll go with you Sophia, Nick you stay here with Greg and finish processing. When you two are done, send Greg down to PD and you go back to autopsy." Catherine commanded as she turned and began to walk out the bedroom door with Sophia.

Nick nodded his head in agreement. He really did not miss the days when Catherine had been his boss.


	2. Meet Johanna

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from CSI, duh...but I do own Anne, Lila, Sadie, John, and Johanna!**

**A/N:** Hey I am back again for another chapter! This chapter is mainly gonna be about Johanna (Nick's babies momma). You're gonna see things from her perspective and kinda get acquainted with her before I make the big transistion of having her and Nick in the same room. And before you start to think that I am writing Nick OOC, remember, this is from Johanna's POV. Not Nick's. You'll get his POV next chapter. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review it! It makes my day! Thanks to those of ya'll who reviewed last chapter:

**Breezygirl**-Yes there will be a pairing, this is a Nick/OC story, and I think you'll get a bigger understanding of the pairing here in this chapter.

**bauerfreak**- Thanks for the review! I hope this chapter holds your interest.

**starlett2007**- I coulnd't stop this story even if I tried lol. It's just a huge plot bunny in my mind and I am just the merciless body that my strange mind uses to write with.

**NicknGrisfan**- I agree, Nick and Sara or Nick and OC, but Nick and Sophia is sometimes a nice change of pace as is him with Catherine. I think I just like to read Nick stories and I just enjoy writing them. It's probably mainly due to George Ead's inate hotness. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you enjoy the story.

**charming-**kayleigh- Thanks for your review! I really like writing this story and it is taking everything in my power not to get too far ahead of myself on it.

* * *

As Catherine sat across from the victim's sister, she couldn't help but notice the dramatic difference in looks. Anne had been a blonde with brown eyes and very dark, tan skin. She wasn't the greatest looking girl, but she was average. This woman, Johanna Cameron, had blonde hair too, but it seemed brighter. Her eyes were big and blue and she had perfect, fair skin. They even had different last names. Catherine knew that was due to the fact that Anne had married earlier in life only to divorce a year later, but still retaining the name of her ex. 

As Catherine sat and stared at Johanna, she couldn't help but have the feeling that this woman had not murdered her sister, but then again, stranger things had happened.

"Was that your daughter?" Catherine asked Johanna, attempting to break the ice.

"Yeah, sorry I had to bring her in today. I usually have her stay with my sister, but she wasn't home this morning when I went to drop her off. I had to take her into work with me; it was a mess. This whole day has been a mess." Johanna stated. She really didn't understand why she had been called in today. She had a million things she had to do; she had piles of laundry, she had work she needed to do at home, and she'd had to cancel a doctor's appointment for Sadie because of this whole interrogation.

"You a single mom?" Catherine asked. She knew all too well what it was like trying to have a career and a daughter without having a man to help. She also used that knowledge to her advantage quite a lot. She thought it helped her connect to the suspect or victim at times.

"Yeah. Her dad ran out on me about a month before I found out I was pregnant. Just went into work one night and never called me again. It was like he dropped off the face of the earth." Johanna would tell this woman a little information, but she wasn't about to tell her every last detail of her crappy life.

It had been almost four years since he had left her. They had been together for six months and he practically lived at her place. One night, he got up, told her he loved her, and went off to work. He never came home and after a few days of waiting for him to show up or call, she gave up and called him. He hadn't answered and she thought about going over to his house. She drove by it every once and a while and saw his car in the driveway, but she was too scared to talk to him. He obviously didn't want to talk to her, and she was above begging him to listen to her. It was a month after he had left her that she discovered she was pregnant. She went to the doctors and had tests run to prove that she was absolutely pregnant before she tried again to talk to him. She may have been above begging him to come back to her, but she wasn't above making him take responsibility for his child. When she drove by his house, however, he had moved out. Nobody knew where he was and his work wouldn't give out personal information. He didn't return any of the messages she left for him at work and finally she had to accept that she was going to raise this baby on her own. Her parents had been pissed to say the least. They were angry at him for not taking responsibility and they were angry at her for "sleeping around".

Now four years later, she had a three year old daughter to show for her whole ordeal. She had named Sadie after her grandmother, the only person who would help her during her pregnancy. Johanna had been apprehensive about having a child, and she even thought about putting her baby up for adoption. When the nurse handed her Sadie, however, all those thoughts went out the window. There was this beautiful baby with tufts of brown hair and big brown eyes, just staring up at her like she knew that Johanna was her mom. Johanna knew that whatever happened in her life, she was always going to be a mom. That baby had grown into the most precious thing in Johanna's life. She was a princess in every sense of the word. She loved the color pink and she loved watching Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty until Johanna couldn't take it anymore. She was a brunette just like her father and she even had his eyes. Those sad puppy dog eyes that used to drive Johanna wild, were now the puppy dog eyes that made her heart swell with love.

She smiled as she thought about her daughter. Sadie was in the lobby with the other CSI named Greg, while he watched out after her. Johanna knew fair and well that bringing Sadie here was dangerous. Johanna knew that _he_ worked here, or at least he had. He had been a CSI after all. Her fears were only minute; however, as she remembered that he had worked the swing shift while he was here. Right now was clearly either morning or the end of night shift. If her memory served her correct he wouldn't be in for a while longer. She sincerely hoped that he no longer worked here. After Sadie had been born, she had made a promise to never think about him again. That was an extremely stupid and hard promise to keep considering her own daughter looked just like him in so many ways. She had promised herself, however, to always keep Sadie safe from him. Not that he would ever hurt Sadie in any way. He had always talked about having a family someday, but she didn't want him to enter Sadie's life and then leave the same way he had with Johanna.

"Johanna why were you at your sister's house yesterday morning?" Brass asked from the corner of the room.

"I told you, to drop Sadie off. Anne watches after Sadie for me when I go into work Monday through Friday and I watch her daughter Lila on Saturday and Sunday while she works."

"Did you notice anything odd or out of sorts when you went over there yesterday?" Catherine asked.

"Not really. I wasn't there long. She wasn't answering the door so I took Sadie and we left." Johanna didn't understand why they were asking so many questions about Anne.

"Didn't you find that strange when your sister didn't answer the door?" Brass asked incredulously.

"No. Sometimes she does that. Whenever that boyfriend of hers comes back, they go into their own world and nobody matters anymore."

"What do you mean that boyfriend of hers?" Catherine asked. She had assumed from the beginning of this interview that Johanna had not been the killer they were looking for. She was now more interested in getting any type of answer as to who might have done it.

"I don't remember his last name, but his first name is like John. She met him somewhere in Los Angeles several years ago while she was on vacation. They were always breaking up and getting back together. He would hit her and she would cry about it, but in the end she always took him back. It's why I never left Sadie over there when he was there."

"Why didn't you try to talk to her about John?" Catherine wondered. If her sister had been in an abusive relationship, she would have tried everything in her power to make her see straight.

"We're not very close. We just watch each other's kids. It was the only thing we had in common. We both got knocked up and then the guy left." She looked around the room and saw the looks of astonishment on both of their faces.

"Look, I don't need you to judge me, alright? I work fifty hour weeks at my office trying to make enough money to support my daughter and I. I get no help from anybody except the small bone my sister threw at me by watching my daughter. Now I am probably going to have to work more hours just so I can hire a babysitter for Sadie because my sister is obviously in some kind of trouble. That means less time I get to spend with my daughter and more time I get to spend away from her. My office won't promote me because I can't work the sixty hour weeks they would like me to work because I have to see my daughter at some point during the day. In about a year, my daughter is gonna start kindergarten and then I'm gonna have to think up a way to get her to school and how the hell I am going to pick her up from it. So, I'm sorry if I didn't think it strange that my sister didn't answer her door this morning, but I have more important things on my mind than whether or not my sister is too busy fucking her sleazy boyfriend then to watch my kid." Johanna finished feeling upset that these two people had judged her so harshly.

"Ma'am there's something you should know about your sister and her daughter Lila." Brass said, still slightly shocked at the outburst that had just taken place.

"What?" Johanna said, folding her arms in front of herself in a protective manner.

"Lila was found poisoned at a park yesterday evening and early this morning your sister was found stabbed to death at her home." Catherine added, feeling guilty for having shown her emotions on her face.

Johanna was shocked. Her sister was dead? She knew from the focus of the conversation that Anne had been in some sort of trouble, but she hadn't jumped to this worst case scenario. And Lila was dead too. Her poor little niece, whom she loved like she was one of her own. Lila held a special spot in Johanna's heart. Every weekend Lila would come over and spend the weekend with her and Sadie. This was a hard blow to take and it made her focus her attention back to Sadie. If somebody had just murdered her sister and her six year old niece, could they possibly be after them? Could her sister's sleazy boyfriend John have done this? What if he had? Would he hurt Sadie or herself if she told these investigators any information about him? She knew that now that she had mentioned him, they would want to know more about him. She knew a lot about him. She knew pretty much everything shy of his last name and social security number. Anne had made sure after the last time he had sent her to the hospital that Johanna knew all she could about him in case he ever did anything that rendered her incapable of telling about him herself.

"I know this has got to be hard on you, whether your sister and you were close or not. We want you to understand that this is still an open investigation and that any information you can give us about your sister, your niece, and anybody else they knew would be greatly helpful and appreciated." Catherine said softly.

Johanna remained quiet; she was still in her own mind thinking about how best to protect Sadie and herself. Catherine and Brass took her silence as the key to move forward.

"Is there anything else you know about this John guy?" Brass asked.

Johanna was brought out of her thoughts at the mention of John. She looked at both of them with fear written across her face. Sure she knew a lot about him, but she knew she needed to protect her daughter.

"No. I don't know anything else about him." She said quietly, not meeting their gazes. She had never been a good liar. It was a fault she had always thought, but a lot of other people found it endearing. Right now she wished she possessed her sister Anne's secrecy skills because by the looks on their faces they didn't believe a word she had just said.

"Johanna, any information you can give us about him would help greatly." Catherine said softly again, but firmer this time.

"I told you, I don't know anything about him. I've never even seen him before." She lied again. She hated lying to these people when she knew that it might help solve her sister and her niece's murders, but she had to protect her own. She had to protect herself too. If she died, Sadie had nobody. Her parents had disowned her after she got pregnant with Sadie, and they certainly wouldn't want her bastard child. Sadie didn't have a father that wanted her, and now her last remaining friend had passed.

"Johanna, why are you covering for a guy who might have murdered your sister? Don't you want justice for your little niece?" Brass looked at her unbelievingly as he spoke.

Johanna looked up at him for the first time since they had asked her about John. She blinked and opened her mouth to speak, but found that her throat was dry.

"Johanna, we can keep anything you say to us confidential if that's what you're worried about." Catherine said, knowing exactly what was racing through the young woman's mind.

Finally Johanna found her words. "He would still know it was me."

"There is no way he could know that." Catherine said in reassurance.

"No, you don't understand. He would know. He'd come after me or worse yet, my daughter. I have to protect her and I'm sorry if that means that you might have a harder time bringing justice to my sister and my poor niece. I really am sorry, but you have to understand where I am coming from here. Are you a mother?" Johanna directed her last question to Catherine.

Catherine looked into Johanna's dark blue eyes. "Yeah, I am. I have a daughter."

"Then you have to understand where I am coming from here. If you knew that there was even the slightest possibility that somebody could hurt your daughter because of something you said, wouldn't you keep your mouth shut? Wouldn't you do everything in your power to keep her safe?" Johanna pleaded, hoping that this mother would understand her predicament.

"I would. I have before." Catherine felt defeated.

"Then please, don't ask me to put my daughter's life in danger right now." Johanna looked into Catherine's eyes. Both women were crying. Both understand what the other was talking about.

Brass looked at the two women and sighed. He knew himself, as a father, how strong the ties of love were with a child. No matter how many times Ellie had hurt him or disappointed him in the past, he loved her unconditionally.

"Alright, Ms. Cameron. If you feel like sharing any information with us, here's my card." Brass handed Johanna his card and then quietly walked out of the room.

Both women watched him leave and then they too stood up. Catherine looked over at Johanna and felt a strange connection to this woman. Perhaps it was the fact that she too was a single mother with a daughter, but she really felt for Johanna either way. She was paining inside thinking about the turmoil this woman must be under.

"I believe we left Sadie with my colleague Greg. She should just be in the lobby with him now. Do you want me to show you the way?" Catherine asked. In truth, she wanted to see this daughter of Johanna's. She knew that Sadie had a great mother and she always loved to witness the bonds of a mother and her daughter.

"Yes, please. That would be great." Johanna smiled in thanks. She knew that no matter how hard this interrogation had been this woman before her was someone she could trust. She felt grateful to her in a way, and she just hoped that after she left this building, Catherine could forgive her for not being braver.


	3. Where's Sadie?

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with CSI. I only own the characters Sadie and Johanna.**

**A/N:** I am so sorry this has taken a while to put up. I had half of it written and then I had to stop because a family member of mine was t-boned in her car and was in the hospital for a while. Then after that it was a lot of different things, one thing after the other, and today was the first opportunity I felt like continuing to write. I apologize for the delay and to all of those who are reading my other story Stolen Identity, I apologize for the even longer delay in that. I haven't abandoned it, but life is really crazy right now. I will update it soon. Thanks to all my reviewers last chapter.

**Yasmin Lupin**- Thank you, I'm glad you like the story. Don't be too mad at Nick, he has a good reason, I promise.

**T**- Lol your review made me laugh so hard for some reason...maybe because I find sarcasm humorous...lol

**N1kki1984**- Thank you so much for your review...and I hope you enjoy this chapter, even if I'm not sure how thrilled I am with it...

Please review...they normally help me update faster and bring a big smile to my face! Thanks!

* * *

All she could feel was fear as she stood in the empty office. Catherine had told her Sadie would be in this office with another investigator, but neither of those two was present. She stared around hopelessly, thinking Sadie might just be playing hide and go seek. That wasn't too out of the norm. Sometimes, Johanna would walk into Sadie's room to get her ready in the morning, and she would be hiding under the bed or in the closet. As her eyes skimmed the room, the feeling of fear continued to build in her heart. Where was Sadie?

Catherine also looked scared. She knew all too well the fear of not knowing where your child was. It was an experience she hoped she would never have to repeat.

Her eyes too skimmed the room over. She walked over to Brass's desk and looked underneath it, but Sadie was not there. She tried to make her mind see rationally. Perhaps Greg had taken her for a tour of the building. Catherine knew that kids, especially the younger ones, could go stir crazy if kept in a small room for too long. Maybe Sadie had started to get antsy and Greg had decided to appease the little girl. She knew she needed to find Greg.

She turned to the young woman and tried to force her own voice to remain calm. "Look, I'm sure Greg just took her for a tour of the building. Let me just find Greg and see where he's at."

Johanna looked at Catherine skeptically. She had a feeling Greg was not with Sadie; call it mother's intuition.

Just as Catherine pulled her cell phone off of her belt, Greg opened the door to the office, alone. Both women turned their full attention to the young CSI and glared at him. He suddenly felt like a teenager sneaking back into the house after sneaking out earlier.

He smiled nervously at Catherine. "What's up, Catherine?"

She looked at him shocked. How could he be so calm when the little girl he was supposed to be watching was nowhere to be found?

"Where's Sadie?" Catherine asked quickly.

Johanna looked at Greg expectantly. His eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized that Sadie was no longer sitting obediently in the chair behind Brass's desk. He swallowed and then looked back into Catherine's angry and disappointed eyes.

"She was right there when I left!" Greg defended.

"Why did you even leave, Greg? You were supposed to be watching her!" Catherine yelled angrily.

People turned to stare at the commotion as Catherine's angry words traveled through the opened door.

"I had to go to the bathroom! She can't go in the guy's bathroom, Cath! I asked her to promise me that she would stay here and she did!" Greg felt incredibly stupid and avoided looking into the little girl's mom's eyes. He didn't want to know what they would convey.

Catherine sighed and turned to face Johanna. She didn't know what to do, but she knew they needed to search the building.

"We're going to do everything we can to find her. I promise." Catherine said sympathetically.

Johanna nodded, but couldn't help the feeling of dread that had taken up residence in her mind and heart.

* * *

Nick had just come back from the morgue. He had been there for the autopsy and afterwards had gone up to the lab for the tox results on the mom and the little girl. He was making his way through PD currently, looking for Catherine. He knew she was here questioning the victim's sister.

As he made his way toward the interrogation rooms, he caught sight of Brass.

"Hey, Jim." Nick greeted.

"Hey, Nick. You just missed Catherine." Brass informed Nick, knowing why the young investigator was talking to him.

"Do you know where she went?" He asked hopefully. He really didn't feel like searching all of PD for her.

"Yeah, she went back to my office to drop off the vic's sister. Sanders was watching her kid in there." He mumbled. He still felt slightly disappointed in the sister for not giving up any information on the John guy.

"Thanks." He offered and then turned to head back in the direction of Brass's office.

When he reached it, however, he noticed that no adults were present. He found this odd considering there was a little girl sitting in the chair in front of Brass's desk. She was sitting obediently in the chair, swinging her legs back in forth.

He stepped forward and opened the door. He walked inside and shut the door behind him again. The little girl turned and faced him, smiling. He smiled back at her and approached her.

"Hey, I'm Nick. What's your name?" He asked her kindly.

"Sadie." She replied sweetly.

"What are you doin' in here all alone?" He asked, trying to figure out where everyone else was.

"My mommy told me to wait in here while the pretty lady asked her some questions." She answered back.

"And they left you in here all alone?" He thought that was odd.

"No. The guy with the weird hair was here, but he had to go to the potty." She conveniently left out the fact that she had left too, so that she could explore.

Nick realized that this must be the daughter of the victim's sister and the pretty lady must be Catherine.

"Okay, I see what is going on here." Nick said to Sadie. He reached to his belt and pulled off his cell phone. He quickly flipped through the phone book and found Catherine's number.

Catherine was standing in the women's restroom, checking all the stalls for Sadie, but she wasn't having any luck. The feeling of dread continued to build each time she came up empty handed. She didn't even want to envision the possibility of where Sadie could be right then.

She sighed as her cell phone went off. She hoped it was Greg with good news. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Nick. She sighed again as she flipped open her phone.

"Yeah, Nick?" She asked slightly frazzled.

"Hey, does the vic's sister have a daughter?" He asked keeping his eyes on Sadie while he talked to Catherine. He had plenty of experience with children from his many nieces and nephews and knew that as soon as you took your eyes off of them, they were gone.

"Yeah, why?" She asked. He hadn't been there when they had found out Sadie was missing, so why was he calling questioning about her?

"Is her name Sadie?" He asked, unaware that Catherine was just previously harboring feelings of doom for the little girl now spinning fast in Brass's chair.

"Yeah, Nick. What are you on about?" She asked hurriedly.

"Well, it seems that Sanders left her alone in Brass's office while he used the restroom, and now she is sitting here in Brass's office alone. Well, she was alone until I came in. Do you want me stay here with her until Sanders gets back?" He asked.

"Wait…Sadie is there with you?" She asked incredulously.

"Yeah…" He replied, confused.

"Right now, she's right there with you. Like, you see her?" She asked, still completely shocked that Nick might have found the little girl.

"Yeah, Cath what's going on?" He asked slightly worried.

"Oh, thank God." She breathed out deeply.

"Cath, is everything okay?" He asked, growing impatient trying to figure out what was going on.

"Just do me a favor Nick, and stay with her until I get there with the mom." She ordered him, already walking out of the restroom towards Brass's office.

"Alright." He replied, still confused.

"Thanks." She responded before hitting the call end button on her phone. She quickly began searching for Greg's number now, knowing that Johanna was with him.

It only took two rings before Greg anxiously answered.

"Greg, meet me in Brass's office, Nick found Sadie." She told him and then quickly snapped her phone shut.

* * *

Nick stood impatiently waiting for Catherine to enter the door. He knew something was up, and was a little upset that she wasn't letting on to what was going on. He still concentrated most of his focus on Sadie. He couldn't believe how adorable she was. She was currently drawing on some paper that Greg had set out for her earlier, and humming a song to herself.

Nick watched her and couldn't help but feel as if he had seen her somewhere before. She had brown eyes that he could've sworn he had seen somewhere before. He couldn't quite place it, but the feeling of recognition was strong.

Before he could dwell on it much longer, the door to Brass's office swung open.

"Mommy!" Sadie shouted after seeing her mother run into the room. She hopped out of the chair and ran over to Johanna who enveloped her in a tight hug.

Johanna felt so relieved and tears started to leak out of her eyes after seeing her daughter alive and well. She placed a kiss into Sadie's hair and inhaled the scent of her daughter that felt so comforting to her.

Catherine and Greg watched, relieved that they hadn't actually lost the young girl and touched at the moment the mother and daughter were having.

Nick, however, didn't notice anything else around him except for the woman hugging the little girl. He couldn't peel his eyes away from her and suddenly he knew why those eyes were so familiar; they were _his _eyes.


End file.
